Gower’s metre, as has already been observed, is extremely regular. He does not allow himself any of those grosser licences of suppression or addition of syllables which have been noticed in Anglo-Norman verse of the later period. Like William of Waddington, he apologizes for his style on the ground that he is an Englishman, but in his case the plea is very much less needed. His rhyming also, after allowance has been made for a few well-established Anglo-Norman peculiarities, may be said to be remarkably pure, more so in some respects than that of Frère Angier, for example, who wrote at least a century and a half earlier and was a decidedly good versifier. It is true that, like other Anglo-Norman writers, he takes liberties with the forms of words in flexion in order to meet the requirements of his rhyme, but these must be regarded as sins against grammar rather than against rhyme, and the French language in England had long been suffering decadence in this respect. Moreover, when we come to examine these vagaries, we shall find that they are by no means so wild in his case as they had been in that of some other writers, and that there is a good deal of method in the madness. The desired effect is attained principally by two very simple expedients. The first of these is a tolerably extensive disregard of gender, adjectives being often used indifferently in the masculine or the feminine form, according to convenience. Thus in the _Balades_[B] we have ‘chose _humein_’ xxiv. 3, but ‘toute autre chose est _veine_’ xxxiii. 2, ‘ma fortune est _assis_’ ix. 5, ‘la fortune est _faili_’ xx. 3, ‘corps _humeine_’ xiv. 1, ‘l’estée vient _flori_’ ii. 1, ‘l’estée beal _flori_’ xx. 2, but ‘La cliere estée’ xxxii. 2, and the author says ‘_ce_ (_ceo_) lettre’ (ii. 4, iii. 4), or ‘_ceste_ lettre’ (xv. 4), according as it suits his metre. Similarly in the _Mirour_ l. 92 ff., ‘Siq’en apres de celle issue, Que de leur corps serroit _estrait_, Soit restoré q’estoit _perdue_’ &c., for _estraite_, _perdu_, l. 587 _hony_ for _honie_, 719 ‘la Char _humein_,’ 911 _replenis_ for _replenies_, 1096 ‘deinz son cuer _maliciouse_.’ From the use of _du_, _au_ by our author nothing must be inferred about gender, since they are employed indifferently for the masculine or feminine combination, as well as for the simple prepositions _de_, _à_; and such forms as _celestial_, in _Bal. Ded._ i. 1, _cordial_, _enfernals_, _mortals_, _Mir._ 717, 1011, 1014, are perhaps reminiscences of the older usage, though the inflected feminine is also found. The question of the terminations _é_, _ée_ will be dealt with separately.